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2012-05-25 - Heroes Crisis: Hulkling About
It has been some time since the heroes vanished. It could have been minutes, hours, days. Within the wretched rooms they have come in, some fresh, some perhaps in the sense of longer, they're faced off wiht what can only be described as a robotic jungle. Robotic trees,robotic wildlife, and robotic beasts hunting them. Here, they are the prey, and they're what's on the menu! Bruce Banner has been in jungles before.. a great many in fact.. all across the world. But they've never been robots.. Proper survival dictates acting true to ones environment. In a jungle, one would stomp and make noise, scare off the lesser beasts.. but in doing so attract the bigger onces.. in a lab setting.. well.. there is nothing trying to kill you, so what is proper? Having been here for a few scant hours, he's already taken to climbing one of the steel tree's and hiding from the mech-beasts below, trying to stay calm above all. It only seems like a short time to Wally since the darkness came and overcame him. Wally, the Fastest Man Alive, couldn't outrun the coming darkness. It did sneak up on him, though. A couple of blinks of an eye and Wally found himself in the Labyrinth. The Scarlet Speedster has been off of his game ever since arriving in/on/at this place. So many things are going on in his head. The newness of everything. The strangeness of everything. So many questions about his present state and location. The one thing that has been in the constantforefront, though, has been Linda. His estranged wife has been on his mind; Is she safe? Where is she? All these things have been tripping up the one man who shouldn't be tripped. To add to the weirdness he's had to fend off weird beasts and creatures. He has discovered his way into this robotic jungle now. He becomes a blur of crimson and yellow as he moves at superspeed. The streak of color zips around the jungle in an effort to ascertain its layer. For X-23, this place is the stuff of nightmares. Falling asleep one night, a flash, and then HERE. Wherever here is. The sound, the stench. A mockery of things that are alive. And yet nothing is. The shriek, the din of motors, making it impossible for her tot rack or find a way out of here. Off in the distance, she sees a red and yellow.. Blur? Nothing can move that fast. Nothing can. Her eyes must be tricking her! Poor Bruce. He's now treed by three robotic utahraptors. The real ones are dangerous enough! It might seem that he's in real trouble...or going to have to Hulk out...but then his cousin, in her purple costume. strides up, grabs two of them and knocks their metal heads together. Gears and chips pour out as their armor shatters. "Looks like you might need a hand!" she calls up to Bruce. What was that blur? She doesn't know. Right now, her one goal...find out who kidnapped them. Smash. The jungle itself, to Flash's quick exploration, is roughly fifty kilometers in diameter. It's made like some sort of kill-crazy funhouse, wtih many species that would never be together, like the aforementioned dinosaurs and then screeching overhead a flock of robotic parrots racing one another on rockets, one of them being grabbed out of the air by some sort of giant mechanical ape. And going towards the She-Hulk is another giant mechanical, maraurdering simian, smashing it's hands over to the mechanical plates upon it's chest in a challenge! Bruce Banner sighs in relief as his big green cousin appears to smash his attackers. But upon seeing another on the approach, all he can do is yell out. "JEN!! BEHIND YOU!!" He's powerless as Bruce.. maybe he should.. No.. NO Last resort that might be worse than the temporary good it brings. This plays out in a mental monologue that has occured more than once before, in situations where the Hulks power would help, only to create far more devastation afterward. But then... Bruce didn't have as much controlthen as now. One raptor down, two raptors down, three raptors...grabbed and used as a club against the ape. She-Hulk grins. "Sure you don't want to join in?" she calls up to Bruce. "This is fun." Yeah. She's enjoying some nice, clean smashing while he cowers up a tree. Only to be expected, though. Meanwhile, a pair of robotic saber-toothed tigers are stalking the Flash. Or trying to. He's awfully fast. The streak of yellow and red eventually comes to a stop as the Flash's exploration ends for the moment. Flash spotted the various constructs in his run. He even noted the presence of some other people and a green lady; All unrecognized by Wally. The briefest of flirtations with the Speedforce gives Wally a burst of speed and he's in earshot of Banner and Jen. He skids to a stop and spots the Robo-Simian on its way towards Jen. Since the green lady is being warned by Banner, she must not be a part of this environment. He is about to act on trying to engage the Robo-Simian, but it gets dealt with swiftly. He zips on over towards Jen and Bruce, "So. Anyone know where the bus stop is? I'm ready for a One Way to Central City, you know?" Laura picks up the scent of gamma infused radiation. A somewhat familiar thing. She's capable of tracking it, it stands out. With that, she flips down from the tree she was in, her claws out with a loud *SNKT* as she hears the man talk. She does not know him, but she does not know all heroes. This man talks funny, and in a less deadly time, it might get a smile. As Laura runs towards the group, she pauses, "Where is Central City?" She does not know of any Metropolis by that name. Meanwhile, the robotic Magilla GOrillat urns towards the arriving Flash, whirling around.. And then squish. Not exactly much pop to it as it goes down like a pancake. Bruce Banner is cowering for everyone elses safety... "I'd rather not rip apart this very interesting ecosystem in a fit of rage... I'm sorry where?" He calls down from his steely perch. This coming from a nerd who probably weighs about a buck ten soaking wet. "I'm fine up here thanks." "Never heard of it, and there's a tiger behind you," the huge green woman notes. In exactly the same tone of voice. Whoever this speedy guy is...and surely she'd have seen or heard of HIM if he existed. Hrm. Something odd is going on here, but Jen's going to work it out later. The Flash raises a hand to his chin and rubs it thoughtfully, "Really? Never hear-" His words are cut off for a moment as the fastest man alive demonstrates the origin of this nickname. A red and yellow streak runs in the direction opposite what Wally was facing. The streak circles around the tiger that he was warned about. If you could see Wally in slow motion, you'd actually see him hitting the robo-cat with jabs and kicks. However, since most people lack the ability to see things in slow motion, they just see a blur of running, kicking and punching. After a relative second of that, Wally is back in his original position, "-Where was I? Ah, you've never heard of Central City? The twin cities of Keystone and Central? Huge hub in the midwest. I guess you guys don't travel much." He humphs. There is a cock to the head of Laura as she shifts to teh side, "THe Major cities of the upper midwest are Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and some might say Cleveland and Cincinatti." She notes, her brows furrowed over a she glances at She-Hulk. He's moving.. Faster thanshe can follow. Faster than she can remotely follow. And she's seen picture of Quicksilver. She can't even -begin- to calculate how fast the Flash is moving. She turns around and watches off into the distance, as a robotic Pterosaur floats over head. "Where are we? This is not the Savage Land." Bruce Banner blinks to himself, seeing but not really believing this man's sheer speed. "Hey uh.. how are you doing that? Are you a mutant or a mutate?" He calls down, the nerd in him dearly wanting to know. "Hold up. There's something really weird going on here." Jen looks right at Flash, and in very serious tones, inquires, "Who's President?" Oh yeah. Isn't that the standard 'are you from an alternate reality' test? Well. She's using it anyway. Wally turns his attention briefly to Laura, "Yeah, those are all important towns, too. You forgot Central City, Keystone City and Hub City though. But you knew that." He flashes a smile and looks towards Banner, "I'm the Flash. I'm not a mutant though-" he gestures towards Jen, "If she isn't I don't know what she is!" He lets Jen's question fly right past his head, "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I was just introducing myself with a joke, clearly I need to work on that." He gestures with a hand wave at their surroundings, "So, are you as lost as I am in this place?" Laura glances over at Flash for a few mometns, and as -best- she can try anhd get a read on him.. Though with how fast he moves her ability to read his body language is -very- limited. "He is telling the truth." As near as she can grasp in any case. Watching over and twisting about, her eyes scanning the horizon. Bruce Banner frowns, hearing his cousin called a mutant. Danger or no he slides down the nearly sheer steel truck of the tree he was hiding in and stand by Jen's side, a few paces closer to Wally than she is. "Jen is NOT a mutant... Not even close. She's a hero, and don't you forget it." Bruce is protective of his cousin, in either form. Despite the fact that she's over six foot tall and able to juggle cars as she is right now.. doesn't matter. Wally places his hands on his hips and taps his foot against the ground out of habit while the others speak. He first addresses Laura, "Uh, yeah. Of course I'm telling the truth." He shakes his head in a bit of confusion, "This place is so strange..." he says casually before asddressing Bruce, "Uh. She isn't normal, Mister. I don't mean it in a negative since. Clearly she's a Meta... but if you haven't been to Central or Keystone cities than it's no wonder I'm not too familiar. I suppose I just gotta peruse the Watchtower's databanksa bit more next time I'm on Monitor duty." His attention swiftly changes from that topic to the broken Robo-Cat he hit a little bit earlier, "These are also unfamiliar to me. Who built this?" Jennifer seems to cheerfully adopt perimeter duties to smash dinosaurs as the otehr three try and figure out where they are. She sniffs at the crushed jungle cat, "It is unfamiliar to me." She goes on, "It is not Sentinel technology, nor from Stark Enterprises." She looks over at it, scanning along the remains of the smashed up pussy for signs ofa manufacture, for bar codes.. And finding nothing. Bruce Banner frowns at Wally. "And just what are you? Noone i know can move like that. And I've seen some crazy stuff." He tells the other man before going to assist Jen. He's mentally processing the other guys speech though... Keystone City, The Watchtower.. government?Or some superhero from an alternate reality thrown in the same craziness they were all in. But that'd be too weird. Right? Wally continues to tap his toe against the ground as he stands there looking around. It's hard for wally to not have a broed expression on his face; To wally it feels like it takes every syllable a dozen or so minutes to be uttered. Wally raises a hand and scratches the back of his head, "It certainly isn't Keystone Motors... but that's pretty much all I'm familiar with. Couple of my teammates might have an idea as this kind of stuff is their forte, but I haven't run into them here." Flash looks over to Bruce, "Of course you haven't seen someone that moves like me. I'm the Fastest Man Alive." If only Jen were here to make the obvious joke.. Laura shifts, "Doctor Banner, does this technology look familiar to you at all?" She tries to change the subject now. "And Mister Fastest Man Alive.." She does a quick calculation. "can you establish a perimeter? My senses are useless." she tries to gaze off and can't see anything beyond the trees. "If this area is self contained, then there must be something feeding it somewhere nearby.” Bruce Banner turns his gaze on Laura, but he doesn't know her. "Uh.. no.. they are obviously advanced, quadraped mechanoids, varying in size and function to include prehistoric life, up through the evolution of mammals as our ape freind evidenced." He says motioning to the gorilla-mech Jen crushed "... but as we lack any sort of scanning gear or extra sensory perception.." He stops and glances between Wally and Laura for a moment as if to confirm. "Then no.. unfortunately my guess is as good as" He trailsoff, feeling the earth tremble beneath his feet. Earthquake? Wally shrugs his shoulders at Laura, "Already ran around the block a couple of times. The place is like forty or fifty Kay-Em from end to end. Really weird." He starts looking around their general vacinity. The Scarlet Speedster feels the vibrations of the ground. Was it an earthquake? Was it a stampede? Wally asks, "What the heck?" In response to the minute quaking of the ground. As the ground shook, Laura stumbled, eyes automatically tracking the sound of the rushing.. Pointing at Banner, "Grab him!" With Jennifer distracted, someone else would have to watch over the good green doctor as she went to try and calmber up a nearby tree! Bruce Banner crouches slightly, letting his knees absorb the tremor. "Don't touch me. You'll regret it." He says to both Wally and Laura, as Jen knows better. Those mild blue eyes of his are on the tree's. hoping to god he wouldn't have to change to help jen deal with whatever was coming. Which is, of course, when Jen comes back. Riding...a giant robot mammoth. She seems to be steering it by tugging on its ears. "Sorry about that. This guy seems to want to help, though!" She looks completely ridiculous. Of course. BUt that's part of thepoint. Wally raises his hand up again to his chin and rubs at it thoughtfully. He starts talking outloud, "Alright; Everyone is as confused as I am. We need a place to coordinate. If there are others we need to gather them and coordinate our efforts to figuring out our situation with them." He looks from Laura to Banner, "Yeah, he seems capable of walking. I'll make sure nothing robotic and baring teeth gets too close." When Jen comes while riding the Mammoth, he doesn't bat an eye... as if it's the most normal thing in existance. He pointsaround the immediate area, "I can clear up this area... create a little, uh, zone for us I suppose." Laura glances over at Flash and nods her assent. And then just.. Stares over at Jen on the Wooly Mammoth. Just boggles. If she can.. She'll move to help Doctor Banner up and over to it while just staring over at She-Hulk in bewilderment, her eyes flickering about the area then to do as she's told. Still confused, but glad someone has an idea of waht to do. Bruce Banner relaxes slightly when Jen pulls up on the not-so-wooly mammoth. "Of course.. why not. Always did know how to make an entrance Jen. Any idea of where to go? Speedy over here said the place is about 50 kilometers in any direction.. implying it has limits. if we can break those limits.. make we'll get a few more clues as to what's going on?" "Speedy shoots the arrows. I'm the one that moves real quick." The Flash corrects Bruce on his statement. He continues to stand there with his hands on his hips. He shrugs his shoulders at the suggestion Bruce makes, "Or we can do that. I'm honestly at a loss. I need time to think; Time to figure out how to get a hold of the League...." He looks off to the side. He says while looking off, "Or I can catch up with you people later after I get a hold of my friends." "I'd listen to Bruce. He's actually very smart," Jen notes. "And I might be able to just smash the limits." She grins. "Let's go check it out. No guarantee your friends are here, fast guy," she adds to the Flash. "I don't see any sign of Cap or Iron Man." Whoever they are. Laura helps Bruce up onto Jennifer's massive mecha mammoth (say that five times fast!) and scans over the area, "That should be effective. We at least.." She looks about warily, "Can set up a safe zone and camp to begin exploring from here. And perhaps find the barrierand a way to breach it later." She goes along the ground as she tosses in her two cents. Wally breaks off from the group to split around and begin searching, zipping away at high speed. She-Hulk watches the Flash zip off. "I get the impression somebody is about as capable of staying still as..." Then Bruce is deposited behind her. "Okay. Let's head to the edge. Clearly, we need to find who abducted us. I'm betting on Kang. Haven't heard from him in too long." Bruce Banner leans forward so his lips are near Jen's ear. "Jen, if we get in trouble.. protect her... i may need to change. New environment, new dangers, not sure if I can keep a hold on him here. " He whispers, not knowing of Laura's enhanced senses. She can likely hear him. Laura glances up at Bruce. "I don't need to konw why you need another set of pants." Jogging on the ground. "Not that kind of change," She-Hulk notes. "And I dunno how long I'll keep control of this guy, for that matter. But I can always conk him on the head." Poor robo mammoth. That would be a terrible fate. Bruce Banner looks up, hearing the robo pterosaurs voicing a prerecorded shreik as they fly over on rocket assisted wings. "This place gives me the creeps Jen.. but.. if we head due north.. and hit that wall or.. whatever it is.. between us we can find a way past." Laura then asks the logical question, "Which way is north?" She points up above, "The sun is as much part of the illusion as anything else, so we have no timesense by it's location. There are no other natural signs to follow either." She-Hulk frowns. "She's got a point. At the very least, we should blaze the trail...somehow. Anyone got a knife that's up to my strength?" At least everyone remaining knows who she is. The guy in the costume talking about cities she doesn't know? Gotta be a time traveler. Bruce Banner just smiles at that. "The tree's are steel Jen, you'd need a hacksaw. and i'm fresh out." He points out. Just knock one over, you should be strong enough for that. or break a 'branch' off." Laura takes a moment then and as She-Hulk 'takes' the claws she just cut off from her hand, she nods, "Thank you." Offering the other hand up as well if needed. Bruce Banner only smiles at that. Sure.. six feet of green power. Subtle. But watching Laura carve her own claws out makes him turn away, one hand slipping down to cover his stomach, presumably trying to keep it's contents down. "Great.." She-Hulk marks the trees as she passes them. "This should at least stop us from going around in circles." Snag is, she does have to get off the mammoth so the blazes are, you know, VISIBLE from the ground. Not that it's trying anything. It's probably just as glad not to be smashed. Or snikted. As they go ahead, Bruce would notice the sun is curving.. Clearly artificial and reflected. And by mapping the way it was curved upwards he could find the nearest 'end' of the mirrored robotic range they were in. Laura cautiously following over behind Jennifer. Bruce Banner looks up again, feeling as though he's missing something. "Ladies.. hang on. Our hosts made a technical error. The sun isn't holographic, it's reflected. Light only follows straight lines usually.. so.. follow the reflection." He says, his neck craned and one hand shading his eyes as he's effectively looking into the sun in thier little world. "That way should be.." He says, pointing to their 3 O'clock She-Hulk moves that way. "Okay. Got it." She still seems to be as relaxed as she ever is. Of course, Jen has been known to demonstrate a conviction of her own immortality...she knows just how tough she is and might believe she is even tougher. Laura follows along after the duo, and they eventually come over to the.. Edge of it. Where reflected glass panels meet the ground, of light density holographic projectors to send out the path of the sky above. Bruce Banner slips off the mammoth and lands in a roll. His martial training was not PURELY medative. "Well.. we're here now.. I don't recommend smashing those.. as we'll just be stuck in the same box with the same robots.. just in the dark. Maybe try to the right of them about 20 feet?" He suggest, pointing to the spot with a finger. "All you Jen." She-Hulk nods. And then charges the barrier. Fists and feet aimed at it with speed to add to her strength. And...bounces off. "Crap!" She actually hits with so much force she flies backwards, THROUGH one of the metal trees, and lands in a heap o'hulk. Fortunately, she gave Laura her claws back first. Laura has taken the moment to reattach her claws.. And as She-Hulk rebounds off the wall, the wall.. Melts. Liquid mercury falling from it.. And reforming over to a humanoid figure of living mirror anad crystal. Bruce Banner stares. With Jen down, and only Laura's shiny hand knives to defend him.. he's scared, pulse racing. And regretting his decision to get off the Mammoth. Moving as quickly as his scrawny frame will allow he heads for cover behind their steely mount, and hopes that Jen gets back up in time to deal with this thing. She-Hulk rolls to her feet, narrowing her eyes at the metal figure. "Some kind of robot. I suggest we smash it." Well, maybe not. It might be sentient. But it can probably take being smashed! Yeah. Bruce? She's helpful. Not. As Laura rolls back up to her feet, she goes to charge in towards the liquid metal.. Thing. Her first slash cuts off one arm, which remerges in midair as it grows a blade from it's stomach, which hits her in her guts and disembowels her as she falls back! Bruce Banner watches from behind the mammoth, see's the girl get disemboweled and suddenly his mind flashes with images of Jennifer getting the same. A vision his brain answers with a resolute NO. Those blue eyes go wide and turn a faintly glowing neon green, lit from within as the gamma burst his cells generate turn him into something... montrous.. He falls to his knees, fists to the ground, a loud rumbling filling the air as he growls through the pain of changing into the Hulk, flesh ripples with newly growing muscle, bones crack and reform to support his flesh as it turns green. Veins stand out prominently, and the little man gets massive, topping out at nine foot if he's an inch, and nearly as broad. RRRGAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRR" He roars his fury, and charges!! Much better. As far as Jen is concerned anyway. Of course, Laura is Wolverine's clone...she'll get better. Bruce, though, doesn't know *that* little titbit. For right now? Jen does her best to Smash The Robot. If it manages to stab her...well, she generally gets better too. She brings both meaty fists down towards it. "Smash!" The 'robot' is made of liquid nanites which could separate and remerge, harden and soften as necessary. It did have a maximum tenstile strength it could acehive, but it could regrow and adapt rapidly, as the Hulks went at it, it would try and form multiple limbs to useas shields against them, and switching htem out to block and parry and stab and merge them to knives! The Hulk is not known for his subtly. Him charging in bypasses Jen and slams the robot with his buick sized shoulder, his sheer momentum of power picking it up and catching between a raging Hulk and a wall capable of repelling a focused assault by the She-Hulk. It should splatter like a bug on a windshield. Even if it doesn manage to form blades or get away, it's going to have it's hands full, as it's pissing Bruce off. Poor robot. It can't really do much more than scratch tough Hulk hide. "Hrm. I don't think we can destroy it..." Hulk is pissed. She-Hulk is frustrated. Maybe if she throws bits of it away it'll eventually have too little left to reform properly. When in doubt, rip off movies. While ripping off limbs. Of the robot that they're ripping apart. Hulk smash, Hulk toss, Hulk pulverize. it seemst o be working, the robot regenerating chunks slower.. Bruce Banner only roars louder, and fists capable of beating tanks into tin cans go to work on the slippery thing. He's doing what he does best. Smashing it. Blow after blow that Superman would feel on his best day rain down on the thing, gripping and ripping bits off, tearing it literally limb from limb. The robot was so mush super-squished smashed silver spooge sprayed over a wide area as Hulk hammered it to bits. At this point, as he squished and squashed his way through it, the wall panels unclicked. The force field taht had rebounded the She-Hulk fading and permitting departure tot he next room. Hulk finally backs off when his target is nothing more than a silvery paste dripping off his huge green knuckles. At that, he only bares his teeth and growls at the remaining puddle. Turning those emerald eyes on Jen his look of anger fades slightly. "Hulk... no... smash.." He tells her, turning and looking for Laura, then spotting her by the mammoth, probably well on the mend. "I'd appreciate that," Jen notes. They're both Hulks, but he's a bit larger and a bit stronger...and she wanders over to see how Laura is. That had to have hurt. Laura is getting up off the ground, one hand holding her slowly healing guts in, the other having reattached her formerly sawed off claws back to her palm then as she gets up. "What.. Does the next room have?" Hulk studies the hurt girl for just a moment before reaching down and scooping her up in one hassive hand, cradling her in the crook of one arm, head somewhere in the region of his elbow. Lifting her he holds her close to his thick green chest to protect her. A simple snort is all he musters to indicate to his cousin that they keep moving, all three on the move, leaving the mammoth behind. He crouches low to get his head past the 'door', then turns to regard it for a moment. Green teeth bare for amoment as he grips the wall, and bends it inward, preventing it from closeing again. Whether this is Bruce pushing from inside, or simply Hulk pissed at the door blocking him previously.. who can tell. She-Hulk sighs a bit at the Hulk...and then moves to flank him. Whatever there is here, she's going to find who abducted them and smash him. She still thinks it's Kang. Somehow...yeah. She's sure it has to be him. It completely fits his style. For now, though, she settles in for the trek. She'll get Hulk to put Laura down. Eventually.